On Friday, March 19, Gov. Jim Justice announced a legislative bill to exempt the first $10,200 of unemployment benefits received last year by West Virginians from the state income tax for the 2020 tax filing year.
“It is a huge tax break for people that are really struggling, through no fault of their own,” Gov. Justice said during a press conference that day. “We absolutely can and should do this.”
However, many of the 197,000 West Virginians who received some amount of unemployment benefits in 2020 had already filed their state tax forms.
According to tax.wv.gov., “If you already filed your federal and West Virginia return and DID NOT take the $10,200 deduction: An amended West Virginia IT-140 return must be filed to claim the deduction. This is true even if you are waiting for the IRS to automatically recalculate and issue a refund based on the unemployment benefits deduction. West Virginia will not automatically deduct the amount from your already filed IT-140.”
The state will not deduct this amount even if a refund total is showing or is higher than originally showing on an e-file format. For instance, this reporter’s electronic tax filing account showed money due the state on the day it was filed in early March, but showed a state refund when it was checked yesterday.
A call to the state’s taxpayer services confirmed that the amended IT-140 still needed to be filed despite the electronic tax filing system showing a refund amount.
Along with a paper IT-140 form a “1099-G indicating the amount of unemployment compensation you received for the year must be included with your return to claim this exclusion. For electronically filed original or amended returns, enter the 1099-G information in the appropriate areas. For paper original or amended returns, the 1099-G must be attached.”
Depending on the type of electronic tax filing system used, a paper form of IT-140 may need to be physically mailed to the state tax department.
The website tax.wv.gov. notes that, “If you filed your federal return and West Virginia return and you DID take the $10,200 deduction: No further action is necessary, you have already received the benefit of this deduction.”
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